Time after time
Of the past 1472 halves of World Cup football played from 1966 onwards (the era when data is available) the longest period of stoppage time was the first half of England v Iran (14 minutes, eight seconds) and the second longest was — the second half of the same game (13 minutes, six seconds). Almost one quarter of the game (23 per cent) was played out in stoppage time (27 minutes out of 117). But the clock-watching did not end there: the second half of Holland-Senegal took third place over that 56-year stretch (ten minutes, three seconds), only to be beaten a new third longest, of ten minutes and 32 seconds, in the second half of Wales v United States.
Spreading the joy
England, who won 6-2, are the first team since 1974, when Yugoslavia defeated Zaire 9-0, to have nine players with either a goal or an assist in a World Cup match: Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish scored, while Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, Harry Kane and Callum Wilson (and Sterling) assisted. England had five scorers, having previously not registered more than three in a major tournament match. It was the first game in which England scored six or more goals but conceded at least twice since they defeated Northern Ireland 8-3 in November 1963.
Six-hitters
England were the only team to score six goals in a game at the 2018 World Cup (against Panama) and are the first nation to have scored six or more in a match at consecutive World Cups since Uruguay beat Bolivia 8-0 in 1950 and Scotland 7-0 in 1954. In their past 50 World Cup games, England have scored six goals twice but otherwise not more than three goals in any match.
Scoring burst
England’s goal tallies in their past ten halves of games have been as follows: 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 3, 3, 3: in their last pre-World Cup game they scored all their three goals against Germany in the second half, and then they scored three in each half against Iran. England’s past two victories achieved outside this country are: 6-2 against Iran and 10-0 against San Marino. It was England’s first match against Iran: they are unbeaten in their past 56 first meetings with an opposing nation.
Cursed ’keepers
In three of England’s past five World Cup opening matches, the opposition’s goalkeeper was substituted in the first 20 minutes: Iran yesterday followed Paraguay in 2006 and Tunisia in 2018. England have fielded a Bury-born right back in eight of their past 13 major tournaments: Gary Neville in five of those and Kieran Trippier in three.
Wales draw comfort
For the third time in their four major tournament appearances Wales opened with a 1-1 draw having fallen behind: they also did so against Hungary in the 1958 World Cup and against Switzerland at Euro 2020. Some 18 per cent of England or Wales starters on Monday (four out of 22) were born in Kingston: Shaw and Declan Rice in Kingston upon Thames, Sterling in Kingston, Jamaica, and Wales’s Daniel James in Kingston upon Hull. Aaron Ramsdale is the first “A Rams” in an England World Cup set-up since the manager Alf Ramsey won the 1966 tournament.
Toffee twosome
In both group A games, a former Everton player scored to complete a 2-0 win: Ecuador’s Enner Valencia against Qatar and Holland’s Davy Klaassen against Senegal. The two youngest managers at this World Cup both played in defence for West Ham United: Argentina’s Lionel Scaloni, 44, and Cameroon’s Rigobert Song, 46.
